Self-Sabotaging Behavior

I recently read an article that said behavior can be self-defeating. It may be helpful at the time, but in the long run it only harms you. There is no doubt that everyone has participated in this behavior at least once in their lifetime. For example, you may have eaten food to make yourself feel better, purposely hurt yourself physically to take your mind of emotional pain, or used drugs or alcohol to distract yourself. Although these actions may help for the time being, they are a recipe for disaster.
When I was reading this article, it reminded me of a website where people can ask you anonymous questions and you are supposed to answer them truthfully. The website is called "formspring" and it is common mostly among high school kids. Although it may seem like a fun website, it is the exact opposite. Since the questions are anonymous, many people take advantage of that and write mean and sometimes inappropriate things about that person. The person receiving the questions has the option to ignore it or respond. Being an immature high school kid, of course they are going to respond. But who is really to blame for the negative consequences? I believe the person responding is to blame. They are just asking for it by having a formspring. My friend took the comments and questions she received personally and she would constantly be upset just thinking about it even when she was not on the website. I told her it was her own self-destructive behavior bringing her down and that she could easily delete her formspring in seconds. When she had had enough of the nasty comments, she finally deleted it.
How can we prevent this self-sabotaging behavior from taking over our lives? According to the article, the best solution is to distract yourself with a new hobby or just simply talking to others. Make sure to engage in healthy behavior that will have only positive outcomes.

Here is the article.http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201109/dodging-emotions-the-help-harms?page=2